When we go on longer vacations, I tend to make mini-goals for myself, just as a way to keep myself on track. A little. I knew there would be some down-time on this vacation and I didn’t want to spend it all binge-reading the way I did when we went to the coast. So I made some goals and didn’t bring any books along. That’s right – I didn’t read a single book during that time. Not on the plane, not while I lazed about. It was exactly the break I needed!

My goals: Edit the four manuscripts that needed edits. Outline the three manuscripts that are potentials for my next project. Walk like crazy in that lovely Wisconsin morning air.

I mentioned in my other two Travelogue posts that I would get up every morning, walk the half mile to McDonald’s to get coffee, and edit while I drank. I’d spend about an hour every morning there, and usually got 25-50 pages read through (depending on how extensive the necessary edits were). By the time I got off the last plane on the way home from San Antonio, all four manuscripts were done. Success!

Sadly, I didn’t do any outlining, so those goals move to July projects. In better news, when I synced my Wii Fit pedometer, I discovered that in two weeks, I’d walked over 122,000 steps, or just over 47 miles. Officially – miles that I actually calculated for exercise, rather than just step count – I walked (and hiked) about 22 miles. Not bad! And I was super happy to discover that despite eating tons and tons of junk food during that two weeks, I managed to maintain my weight while on vacation. Yay!!

Officially, those were my vacation goals, but unofficially, I decided to crochet like crazy on the trip. I was in the middle of two projects when we left on June 21st, and I brought a bag of yarn, hooks, and supplies on the plane. While in Duluth, we stopped by a crafty store and I bought more yarn. In the end, I not only finished my two projects, but created five more during vacation. Instead of outlining.

This was my first in-progress project. It was meant to use up extra yarn that I had lying around, with the intention of fitting under my desk. Now I have it at home, and it fits perfectly!

My second in-progress project was another tarot bag. I have four tarot decks, and two of them had bags already. For my last bag, for my third deck, I designed the pattern from scratch. This time, I decided to follow a pattern, and honestly, I wasn’t happy with the results (which is why I’m not linking out to the pattern here). My first attempt was with size 4 yarn (pattern didn’t specify a size or gauge!), and by the time I got a third of the way through, it was the size of a three-month-old’s head. It made a nice hat that will go to my future nephew or niece (due September). So the second time, I used a size 1 yarn, and that turned out to be too small. I had to add a whole bunch of extra stuff in the middle to get to the right height for my tarot cards. Even beyond that, it’s a circular pattern, so it doesn’t quite fit the box of cards all that well. Still, it’ll do. It’s for my least-used deck anyway.

Next up, I made Jason a dragon-egg dice bag. I heard about this lovely pattern from my friend Liza, and had a lot of fun making it.

Next up, a string bag (pattern adapted from One Skein Wonders)! This was made using a split stitch half double crochet pattern, which was a bit tedious I admit, but totally worth the result. I love the pattern, the texture and thickness and colors. It’s about the right size to hold a skein of yarn and hook and other supplies, or to slip in a paperback book. Great travel bag!

Lastly, the boys all got excited about Jason’s dragon-egg dice bag and wanted ones of their own. I hurried to make these in the last day of our trip (making my hands a little sore!!). The boys each picked out their own colors from what I had available, and they were all super excited about how they came out.

I’m really glad I brought my yarn with me. It turns out that crochet is a great way to keep my hands busy while conversing with people! I liked having projects to play with as we watched movies, played board games, etc. Of course, my hands needed a bit of a break, because I pushed myself a wee bit too hard toward the end, but I’m recovered now. I have a few more projects lined up in July that I’m super excited about!